Not His Right
by Konsui's Little Brother
Summary: She was the one that deserved the recognition. It was what she thrived on, after all, even when they were back in the Southern Water Tribe. Not him. He didn't need people to praise him for a magic power. It wasn't his right to tell them all now.


A/N: Well, I finally got my act together and wrote up another Atla story. And, look who it stars, Sokka and Zuko! Such a surprise. What is a surprise, is the style that this story wrote itself in. I swear, I have no idea where it came from.

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><p>It followed his fingers. Reaching out of the lake in long, dancing tendrils. Softly glowing in the light of the full moon, spinning and twirling, waving and then, with no warning, crashing back down into the bottomless pool that it came from; gravity once more taking hold of it and wrenching it from his grasp.<p>

Just like always.

His pull wasn't strong enough to fight against the natural order of things for long. Not like his sisters, who could stop a wave from crashing down on a ship and part waters with just aflick of her wrist. But it was strong enough for the water to start a slow rise back up towards his fingers as they dangled over the edge of the rock; his body sprawled in an ungraceful heap on the light marble floor.

Again, the water started a graceful dance towards him. Four towers rising out the water, defying all that was natural to it, and heading towards his hand. They swayed slightly, ripples spreading through the rest of the darkened pool, and then crumpled back down with a splash.

He'd never been able to hold onto them long enough to make them reach his hands.

Small sigh escaping his lips, the water-tribe boy dipped the very tips of his fingers into the water and slowly started to drag his hand backwards and forewards. Back and forth, back and forth; the miniture waves surrounding his hands just big enough to be unnatural.

Rolling over so that he was on his stomache, he let his other hand drop into the softly churning waters. The full moon reflected onto the black tides, a silver glow bouncing off of the waves he was creating.

Closing his eyes, head dipping slightly in the direction of the luminous orbs reflection, he slowly gathered himself and started to rise to his feet. The droplets of water on his hands stayed right where they were, not a single one dripping back to it's proper spot in the pool.

And a steady trickle of water followed him up, waves still rocking themselves gently.

It was hard to do so little with his bedning, with his magic hocus-pocus, but nights like this (when the moon was full and Yue was watching him in all of her glory) made the wait almost seem worth it. It _would_ be worth it one day. Once the war was over and the Avatar had beaten the Fire Lord and brought peace.

Until then, he would deal with catching little moments alone and use just enough of his bending to quell the almost permanent ache that had settled in his chest. Moments like now, when everyone else was tucked away in their sleeping bags in seperate areas of the abandoned Air Temple that they had claimed as a camp.

"Sokka?"

Jerking away at the voice, the water-tribe boy lost the thin grasp that he had on the water. The tendrils fell, once more, into the pool with a splash as he spun around (wide-eyed and panting) to stare at the Prince who'd interrupted him.

Somewhere up above them, a cloud drifted over the moon.

"Sokka...Did I just see you bending?" The incredulous tone of Zuko's voice sent a chill down the bronze-skinned boy's spine.

Silence reighned between the two. Focusing on the slowing his heartbeat, because he could hear the small waves behind him splashing in time with it, the boy in question shook his head. But it had been so long since he'd been able to slink away and practice and the water just wasn't listening to him.

"What are you going on about Zuko?" Still, the fool's-mask slipped into place just as easily as it always did.

"I'm talking about the fact that I just saw you water-bending." The Fire-Nation Prince paused, golden eyes narrowing into an accusing stare. "Which I clearly remember you saying you couldn't do."

A laugh, easy and believable, left the accused boy's mouth. "I don't know what you're going on about, Sparky. I'm just the plan-guy. If you're looking for a water-bender, you've got to go talk to Katara."

And that was how he had decided it would always be.

There was only room for one water-bender in the Avatar's group, and that was his baby sister. She was the one that people would remember, that people would recognize and cheer for and _die_ to protect, in the future; when all was said and done and Aang had proved to everyone that their ways had to change.

His sister had been the one who had always dreamed of being a recognized water-bender, even when they were young and didn't quite understand the responsibilites that came with having that title in their tribe. And when her powers had surface, before his ever came into being, she was the one that the villigars adored. So who was he to even think about taking the spot-light from her?

It wasn't his right.

He was just the plan-guy, after all.


End file.
